South Side Story
by CassieAndFiction
Summary: A modern day West Side Story focusing mainly on the Jets, looking deeper into the characters and their lives. Warning: will feature abuse. (Somewhat of an expansion on my other story).
1. Chapter 1

I'm really not sure what I think of this one yet, I feel like the whole storyline sounds very forced. I plan to revise this chapter so any comments and suggestions will be a great help. Especially if you have an opinion on whether I should continue writing it in modern day or not.

Also, I felt like New York today wouldn't really work for this type of story, so I'm taking a risk and setting it in the fictional small town of Cherrent, let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

- Cassie.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own West Side Story, just aspects of the storyline.

**Chapter 1**

Doc's was one of the few cafes in Cherrent that wasn't air-conditioned, which meant it wasn't packed with the usual crowd of youths desperate to avoid the dry summer heat. This was why Riff had always thought it to be the perfect hangout for the Jets. The Jets where the gang that he, along with his friend Tony, had started about 4 years ago. Riff was their leader. Before that he was a lost boy, without a trace of ambition or purpose, convinced his life would amount to nothing just as his fathers had done. Now he was respected, though it had become much more than that. The Jets where his family.

It was 3 o'clock, Riff realised, and they had wasted the day doing almost nothing. Some thought differently, believing the tower of salt and pepper shakers they had built to be a valuable use of time.

"You know why I like hanging around with you guys?" Actions asked, looking at something on his phone. Before anyone could reply, he kicked the leg of the table holding the tower of shakers, which then tipped to the floor with loud clattering.

"Oh screw you, man. You hang out with us because no one else will put up with you," A-Rab said back, throwing a sugar packet at him.

"That's not true, your mum put up with me last night," Action sent back.

Ice, the tallest, toughest and quietest Jet, casually retrieved the shakers that had rolled his way and put them back on tables, before indicating for the others to do the same. Ice was the unofficial second in command of the Jets. Much unlike most the others, he kept a cool head on his shoulders at all times. Baby John saw him as a sort or superhero, ready to help anyone in need. Though he kept mainly to himself, Ice was also the most adored by women, who found him mysterious and mature. This of course only reinforced his standing as a superhero. Ice didn't talk much. He had the ability to communicate practically anything by way of a single look.

As the last salt shaker was collected off the floor, the door to the Café opened, allowing a group of teenagers entry. They made no move towards a table or the counter, just looked to the boys sitting in the corner. Riff stared straight back. The tension was broken briefly by Doc, who owned the Café, walking in through the backroom holding a bag of coffee beans.

"Can I get you boys anything?" he asked warily, made nervous by the intense looks being shared between the two groups

"No we're good," one of the boys replied, though continued to stare directly as Riff.

"How about you ladies?" Doc then asked, drawing attention to the two girls Riff hadn't even noticed were there. The brunette shook her head and smiled. The blonde showed no sign of hearing the question.

"Is this the why we're here?" the blonde asked, sounding frustrated. "This is so stupid." She stormed back out the door. Riff could see her waiting outside the Café, looking impatient.

Some of the second group of teens snickered, but the Jets kept straight faces. The boy who had spoken earlier made his way to a table close to the Jets, followed by the others. Though the brunette girl chose to take a seat at the counter, rolling her eyes.

They all sat in silence for a while, staring at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. "What do you want, Oliver?" Riff eventually asked the boy facing him from the table over.

"Do we need a reason to be in here?" Oliver replied, feigning innocence.

"Come off it," Action said angrily, rising from his seat. "You know this is our spot, what do you want?"

Doc hurried to them as the rest went to stand. "If any of you are wanting trouble you can take it outside."

The Jets made no move to leave, still staring at the boys across from them. Oliver held up his hands. "Hey, we weren't looking for any trouble. We'll be going, yeah? Come on, guys."

The group followed their leader out of Doc's, joining the girl who was still leaning against the window outside.

"You boys are going to scare all my business away," said Doc, retreating back through the door he had come from.

"We are your business, Doc," Action called after him, before turning to the others.

"What is their problem?" He asked them, emphasizing every word. Action was someone with a fuse shorter than he was. What he lacked in height he made up for in pent up aggression.

"Want their damn asses kicked," A-Rab suggested. This was met with a murmur of agreement.

"Well don't go startin' anything on your own again," said Baby John. "That was stupid enough the first time."

"Hey I didn't start that, I just made a joke. They took it way too seriously." A-Rab's hand went automatically to the small cut on his cheek while the Jets collectively rolled their eyes at him.

A-Rab was, primarily and famously, a smartass. Composed of sarcasm and backtalk, he was a magnet for trouble and people knew that. Parents would tell their kids to stay away from him, that he was a bad influence and they were probable right. He got himself into about as much trouble as Action, though unlike him, A-Rab did this on an almost entirely verbal basis. A-Rab took nothing seriously, until it came to his best friend and youngest Jet, Baby John.

As his name suggested, Baby John was the Baby of the Jets. At least a grade bellow all the others with a face that was, though made up of features that would turn him into a handsome man, hidden beneath a constant look of awe and confusion. Baby John often tried to appear tougher than he was, but didn't have a mean bone in his body. This made him an easy target and all the Jets, especially A-Rab, though he'd never admit it, where protective of him.

"Yeah well I don't know what they're trying to do," Riff joined in. "They show up wherever we are, act like they want to start something and then bugger off."

Snowboy took a break from trying to balance his chair on two of its legs. "They're just trying to act tough. Want to go home and tell everyone they had a run in with a bunch of violent hoodlums."

This lightened the tension enough for the Jets to continue with other conversations, forgetting the YS's.

YS, short for 'YOLO Swaggers' which A-Rab had initially taken to calling the rich kids of Cherrent. It didn't take long for it to catch on. They were the kids with nice houses, nice cars and nice families. They spent most their time in the North of town, only coming down to places like Docs to feel like they're living on the wild side before they went back to their rich kid school.

Of course they weren't really 'rich kids'. They didn't all drive Mercedes' and spend their weekends at social clubs, but in the town of Cherrent there was a definite line separating the well off from the not so well off.

The rest of the day passed quickly, and everyone split up to return home before the street lights went out, and the infamous officer Krupke would drive around threatening to arrest kids for 'loitering'. Riff's mind wandered back to the YS kids on his way home. He could tell they wanted to start something. There had always been tension between them, but now they were looking for it.

It was only Tony's mother there when he got home. He had been living at Tony's since his we was 15 as his only other option was his unemployed drunk of an uncle. Tony's father was an accountant and worked late this time of year, and Tony was away for a few days with some of his new, older friends. He had invited Riff to come along, but it was obviously out of politeness. They both new Riff wouldn't fit in with the older, more tame crowd and so he declined, stating he'd rather poke his eyes out than spend a weekend with a bunch of college bound bores.

He greeted his adoptive mother briefly before retiring up to Tony's room, in which was the older boy's gaming console he allowed Riff to use so long as he didn't beat any of his high scores.


	2. Chapter 2

The chapters should start getting longer soon, and hopefully more interesting. I have a rough plan and these first couple of chapters were always going to be slow. Please take the time to review, I really want to know now whether you think this story is on the right track or not.

- Cassie.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own West Side Story, just aspects of this storyline.

**Chapter 2**

Riff was woken the next morning by Tony throwing his bags onto the bed, on which Riff had collapsed in a fit of defeat the night before after yet another failed attempted to reach level 14.

"You do have your own room, you know."

"Yeah but yours is so much better than mine," Riff mumbled in reply. He pulled a pillow over his eyes to hide from the harsh morning light, but the heat made it almost unbearably uncomfortable, so he gave in and sat up to face Tony. "How was the trip?"

"It was great! I'll take you out there sometime." Tony grinned at him.

"I find this level of cheeriness in the morning offensive."

"Offensive?"

"Yes. To my culture."

"What culture?"

Riff tried to think of a witty answer, but failed, deciding instead to ask the time.

"About half past ten. Shouldn't you be out with the guys by now?"

Yes, he should. Riff wasn't someone who liked to sleep in.

"Oh, and stop by Doc's later, yeah? I feel like I haven't seen the guys in ages,"

Although the store was rarely occupied by anyone other than the Jets, it made most it's money delivering to the local businesses. Tony had a job running these deliveries for Doc during the day, and would often hang out with the Jets between runs. Riff assured Tony he would, and went about his usual morning business quickly before heading out to the basketball courts, where the Jets generally met up in the morning.

"Hey it's out fearless leader," A-Rab greeted him as he turned the corner into the courts. "You had us worried."

"Yeah, yeah. Slept in. What'd I miss?" Riffed asked, sitting down amongst the other Jets.

"Oh nothing, we just walked around in circles, panicking until you showed up," said Snowboy.

"Ha ha," Riff replied sarcastically, "Where's Baby John?" He had only just noticed the absence of the youngest Jet, who was almost always with A-Rab.

"He texted me this morning. I don't think he's coming out, said he wasn't feeling well," A-Rab explained.

"That kid is always sick," Mouthpiece, the slowest of the Jets, added. "We should get him one of those plastic bubbles, like in that movie."

"Tony back yet?" A-Rab asked, surprising Riff with the change of subject.

"Yeah, got in this morning, but he'll be at Docs later. I told him we'd go down."

"Speak for yourself," snapped Action, who took Tony finding new friends as a personal insult.

"Like you got anything better to do." Ice replied coolly.

"Well I'm actually focussing on what we're going to do about them YS's," Action replied angrily.

"Calm down, we're not going to war," said Snowboy, looking amused.

Snowboy was right, of course, but they really did need to do something about those YS kids. He didn't want another run in like A-Rab's. Life was a lot simpler when everyone kept to their respective sides of town.

About an hour later, after a small attempt at a basketball game, the Jets made their way to Docs, in great need of cool drinks and shade. They, Action included though he didn't show it, where looking forward to seeing Tony, however the only people in the store when they arrived was a pathetic looking business man drinking coffee, and the elderly store owner.

"Hey Doc, where's Tony?" Riff called, taking a seat close to a newly erected pedestal fan.

"He's running a little late. I think he's with a girl," Doc said, raising his eyebrows.

Riff shook his head, "Nah, no way. I'd know if he met a girl, the guy isn't exactly subtle."

Tony had always been a romantic. Many times he'd come strolling into Riff's bedroom with a smile on his face, claiming to have met the love of his life. Riff would reply with something like, "Oh yeah man, 17th time's the charm." Tony would of course scoff at this, as he never stopped believing his true love was right around the corner, no matter how many failed relationships he had endured in the search. Then Riff thought back to Tony's grin when he'd seen him this morning. Could he have met a girl? Riff only had a moment to feel slightly insulted by the prospect that Tony hadn't confided in him when the man in question walked into Doc's store.

"Oh," said Tony, surprised. "You're hear earlier than I expected." He did have a lovesick air about him.

"It's a pleasure to see you too, Tony," A-Rab replied sarcastically.

"Well it's hot as hell outside. Can't do nothin'," said Big Deal. He then put his face to the fan and spoke into it. "Speaking of which, like the fan, Doc," he said with a now robotic sounding voice.

"I don't," said Action, shoving Big Deal. "Now people might actually come in here."

"God forbid," Doc replied, dead-pan.

"So Tony," said Riff. "What's this I hear about you getting a girl?"

Tony looked momentarily surprised but recovered quickly. "A girl?"

"Yeah. There someone special I don't know about?"

The smile grew on Tony's face. "Well there's no girl… there's a _lady_," he responded mysteriously, joining Doc behind the counter.

"Do we know her?" Mouthpiece asked.

"Do _I _know her?" Riff raised his eyebrows.

"I doubt it," Tony replied, before getting started on his orders.

Riff decided to leave the subject for now. He would ask Tony about it back home, away from the other guys.

"Surely you boys have something better to do?" Doc asked them as they settled into their usual routine of checking social media and sharing newly found YouTube videos.

"Nope. Why, you sick of us?" answered Snowboy. "You no longer enjoy the joyful sounds of youth filling your store?"

"It's summer holidays. You _youths _should be annoying the elderly _outside._"

"But then we'd miss you too much," Ice added.

Riff didn't stay late that night. Tony left work early and Riff followed him, determined to get to the bottom of this girl thing.

"So who's the lucky lady?"

Tony jumped at his friend's voice. "Jesus, Riff."

"Come on, I'm used to getting the full report the moment you meet a girl. Aren't you going to tell me about this one?"

Tony sighed. "I was just waiting for the right time. This one's special, man."

"Yeah I bet Tony. Even more special then the last one, right?"

Tony just smiled more at this. "You bet'cha, boy-o."

"So, come on, what's her name?"

"Maria," Tony said as though it were the nicest word in the whole world, as though every syllable was made of glass.

"Sounds…" Riff tried to think of something appropriately nice to say about it. "Nice. Real nice. I don't think I know her. Was she in your grade?"

Tony was a grade above Riff. This past year had been his last.

"Yeah. Yeah she was," nodded Tony. "You know, I think she might be it."

Riff rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you still believe in that stuff."

"It's love, Riff, not Santa Clause."

"How long have you even known her?"

"You know," replied Tony, "you're kind of ruining my mood."

Riff had never seen love the way Tony did. He had his girl, Graz, and she was great, but he wasn't planning on spending the rest of his life with her and Graz understood that. They were happy, they had fun together and that was enough for him. That wasn't to say he'd never get married or settle down, sure that could happen. However while Tony lived in the future, Riff lived in the present. And his present was a hot red head with whom he was completely content.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Riff couldn't sleep. He could not stop thinking about his conversation with Tony the night before.

After discussing his newfound love interest, Riff had told Tony, "Chicks come and go. The Jets are for life."

"Maybe I'm ready for more than the Jets," Tony had replied.

Riff had always known Tony would leave the Jets one day, once he got enough money for college, but he'd always viewed it as being a day far in the future.

He gave up on sleep, he needed a smoke anyway. Smoking wasn't allowed inside, so he left as quietly as he could through the front door. He soon found himself automatically taking the route to the basketball courts, still thinking about what Tony had said, however he was brought out of his thoughts by the sounds of talking and laughter ahead of him.

His first thought was that it was the Jets, until he recognised a particular voice among them.

"Hey, control your woman, Lockie," the voice said.

"Shut up, Oliver."

Riff considered turning back, but never got the chance.

"Hey! Hey Riff! Want to join the party?" Oliver called out to him. Riff could see a bottle of bear in his hand.

Without answering, Riff continued down the street with his eyes fixed in front of him.

"Come on, you south-siders know how to party, right? Show us how it's done."

Riff could here that Oliver was closer to him now, and looked up from the cement sidewalk.

He pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "Sorry, not in the mood for a tea party."

The cocky smile left Oliver's face. "Hey, you don't have your Jet buddies around, shouldn't be acting smart with me," he warned, taking a large gulp of beer.

The others were starting to surround them now, and Riff knew that sticking around was a bad idea. He shrugged at Oliver. "Whatever man, I'm just out for a walk, okay."

The brunette girl he recognised from the other day at Docs called out to Oliver. "Leave him alone, Oli."

"Shh, woman," Oliver replied, "Big kids are talking."

Riff went to leave but the other boy stopped him, laughing, but the laughter stopped the moment Riff shoved him back.

It was difficult to tell what happened next. Hands grabbed for Riff and he shoved them off, a girl yelled for them to stop. Riff could feel someone pulling him by his collar, and someone else had one of his arms while his other flailed around, trying to prevent anyone else taking hold of him. He wasn't sure how, but he managed to break free of their grasps enough to make a run for it. He ran as fast as he could, knowing fully well that he would have no chance were he to stay and fight alone. He took a long, winding route to the street on which was Doc's café.

By the time he got there, the footsteps of the Ys's following him had died out, and he allowed himself to slow and catch his breath.

It was then that he noticed another figure sitting a few stores down on the opposite side of the road. His first instinct was to run, thinking it to be another YS, however he paused long enough to recognise the figure staring back at him.

"Baby John?" Riff called.

Baby John didn't answer, he only tensed up, looking somewhat dishevelled. As Riff grew slightly closer he could see Baby John was cradling his left hand, which looked as though it had been partially steam-rolled.

"Man, they didn't get you too, did they?" Riff asked, and broke into a slow jog over to his friend.

But again, Baby John didn't answer, instead he clumsily got up, using only his right hand for support and ran down the street. Riff moved to go after him, but Baby John was fast, and out of sight within seconds.

"Baby John!" Riff called, squinting into the distance, but he was met with only silence.

Though everything with Tony had been pushed from his mind, Riff was plagued with new concerns, and once home and in bed he found that again, he could not sleep.

It took a moment for Riff to realise why he was sore the next morning. The struggle with the YS's combined with the sprint through the streets of Cherrent left him stiff and sore, with the odd small bruise, though he was thankful that he'd gotten off so lightly. The incident with Baby John had jumped back into the forefront of his thoughts, and he made a mental note to ask A-Rab about it later.

Tony was already gone by the time Riff went downstairs, back to early starts at Doc's now that he was fully rested from his trip. Riff didn't stay long either, he was itching to talk to the Jets.

He was slightly nervous walking down the streets that morning. The YSs, though a nuisance, were reaching new levels of hostility. What happened with A-Rab was one thing, that kids mouth had gotten him roughed up more times than Riff could count, but last night was something else. They were _looking_ for trouble.

"And they'll damn well find it!" Action exclaimed when Riff had shared his thoughts with the Jets.

They were hanging out in what they often referred to as the 'green alley', a dead end alleyway behind the basketball courts, used mainly for conversations they wanted to keep private, as well as certain other frowned upon leisurely activities.

"Cool it, Action," said Ice.

"Yeah," agreed Riff, "We need to be smart about this."

"Aw come on," Action wined, "Let's just go pound 'em. They aint nothing we can't handle."

"Yeah, but if Krupke catches us in another fight we're dead," added A-Rab.

"We'll figure something out, just let me talk to Tony," Riff said confidently.

Action rolled his eyes at this.

"Hey," said Riff, pointing a finger at Action, "that means don't go looking for anything till then, okay. You too A-Rab, keep your mouth shut."

A-Rab opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to think better of it.

"I'm going to Doc's. Velma's there," Ice interjected, putting away his phone.

Snowboy made a "Wah-tshh" sound, and mimed cracking a whip, making the others laugh.

Ice sighed. "All the girls are there. But hey I don't mind being the only one getting some-"

"Okay okay," Snowboy interrupted, "I'm coming."

Ice responded by casually mimicking Snowboy's "wah-tshh".

As the guys left the Green Alley towards Doc's, Riff pulled a-Rab aside.

"What's up, man?" A-Rab asked, looking unsure.

"You talked to Baby John this morning?"

"Yeah, he still isn't feeling great."

"I saw him last night, near Doc's," Riff began. He noticed how A-Rab tensed up suddenly, much like Baby John had done the night before. "He looked like he'd had a run in with some YS's or something. And then when he saw me, he just bolted. It was weird. Did he say anything to you?"

"Nah, nothing," A-Rab replied, and started walking away.

Riff could tell A-Rab new something. He was fidgeting and avoiding Riff's eyes as though they could turn him to stone.

"Come on, you know something. What is it?" Riff asked, throwing out a hand to stop A-Rab.

"It's none of your business okay, Jesus." A-Rab replied, and shoved Riff's hand away.

Riff was taken aback by the sudden anger in his friend's voice.

A-Rab continued, "You don't need to know everything, okay. Just leave him alone."

"I haven't done anything to him, I'm just looking out, okay. What's your problem?"

A-Rab didn't reply to this, but took off down the street after the other Jets. Riff followed a few moments later. Once at Doc's, they both acted as though nothing had happened, but A-Rab made a point of not looking at Riff.

They had, as planned, asked Tony about the YS kids. Not too long after they arrived, Tony returned from running deliveries, and Riff filled him in.

"Man, you're lucky you got away, you would have been toast," said Tony, once Riff had told him about his run in with the YS's, leaving out the bit about Baby John, as he had done with the Jets.

"Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence," Riff replied sarcastically.

"Come on, one of you against what, ten of them? Only you could have gotten out of that one."

"Anyway, we're thinking we need to get them back. You know, just so they think twice about starting something like that again," Riff explained, eager for Tony's thoughts.

"But we got to be careful," Ice added, "with Krupke on our asses and all."

"Maybe you should just forget it," said Tony suddenly, surprising them all.

"What?" exclaimed Action, starting toward Tony, but Riff put an arm out to stop him.

"What you mean?" Riff asked him.

"Well come on," said Tony, "They're just trying to act tough. You retaliating will only make it worse."

"You sound like my damn mother," A-Rab responded, looking unimpressed.

"Yeah, I mean, we don't do something, those guys will start thinking they own the place," added Mouthpiece.

"You're not fighting for your country. You're fighting for some damn street cred. You're just going to cause more problems." Tony looked exasperated at the other boys, who clearly weren't buying it.

"Come on Tony, where's this coming from?" Riff asked, "You know as well as the rest of us that we can't just let them guys walk all over us."

"Oh why's it always about _them _against _us _with you guys. You know, you're not that different, hell you'd probably like ea-"

"Hah!" interrupted Action, "You're nuts, Tony. Spending too much time with those damn college-bounds."

It was then that Doc spoke up. "Well I'm glad that one of you has a good head on your shoulders. You are only making trouble for yourself, and those other kids."

"Those YS's make trouble for themselves," said Action.

"Well I'm with Tony," announced Velma, from her place under Ice's arm. "I don't want you guys going and getting hurt in some silly fight." She ran her hand through Ice's hair.

"We won't be the ones getting hurt," Ice responded.

"Look Tony," said Riff, walking over to his friend, "If we don't do something now, those guys are going to get cocky and pull something stupid, and then we'll be _forced_ to retaliate."

Tony threw up his hands in defeat, and announced he had work to do, before leaving through the back door.

"Yeah, real glad we got his say on the matter," said Action bitterly.

Riff couldn't help but share Action's feelings, Tony had never been one to stand down, but now he was acting like some damn flower child. It looked like they'd be doing this one on their own.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

During the school term, Friday nights are nights of excitement, in which students everywhere celebrate the 2 days of freedom they've been waiting for since Monday. During the holidays, however, Fridays become a symbol for the two days that follow; the only two days a week that parent's also get to stay home, which had given Fridays a somewhat melancholy feel in the minds of youths everywhere. It was a conversation on this matter that lead Benji, a then high school junior, to come up with what he coined as 'sun parties'.

Sun parties were much like any other party, only they happened exclusively in daytime hours. Snowboy had just announced to the Jets that one of Benji's infamous sun parties had been planned.

"Next Friday," he told them one afternoon, "He said he'll stick something up on Facebook about it tonight."

"I'm so in. Haven't had a decent party in ages," announced Big Deal. The other Jets murmured in agreement. "Someone should let Baby John know."

"Tell him yourself," replied Mouthpiece, indicating to the other end of the basketball courts, where Baby John was walking towards them. As he got closer, Snowboy yelled out to him.

"Yo, speak of the devil. Sun party next Friday. You in?"

Baby John waited until he had reached the group before replying. "Yeah, sounds good," he shrugged.

Riff's eyes searched immediately for Baby John's left hand, but it had been stuffed into the boy's pocket.

"Where's Action?" Baby John asked to no one particular as he sat down with the others, though somewhat awkwardly with his hand remaining in the pocket of his jeans while doing so.

"Don't know," replied Ice, "actually, text him. He's got my lighter."

Baby John complied.

"He better not be starting anything," said Riff.

"Like what?" Asked Baby John, he looked at Riff briefly when asking, but then seemed to remember why he was avoiding him, and looked away. They hadn't spoken since the night of his run in with the YS's, Riff decided to take Baby John's lead and pretend nothing had happened.

"You know, anything with Oliver and them," Riff replied.

"You heard about that, right?" asked Ice.

"Oh yeah, right," Baby John replied.

"Yeah," said Riff, now looking to the whole group. "So we don't do anything until we know _what_ we're doing, right?"

All the Jets nodded.

A soft buzzing drew their attention, Baby John picked up his phone.

"He says he'll be here in a sec."

True to his word, Action appeared moments later, looking mad.

"What's up?"

"Where you been?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Ask Tony!" Action snapped back, slumping against the fence and lighting a cigarette.

At their looks of confusion, Action turned towards the Jets and explained. "Saw him with his new girl."

"Yeah and?" A-Rab asked.

"It's Maria Russo. Oliver's sister."

"Shit!" A-Rab exclaimed, "No wonder he went all soft about the YS's."

"So, what? He's one of them now?" asked Mouthpiece.

"What'd you see?" asked Snowboy.

"Saw Tony kissing some chick outside the grocery store, went to go bug him about it and saw it was the Russo girl. He begged me not to tell you guys, reckons he'll tell you 'when the times right'. Like shit he will," Action explained.

"Man, all the talk of college has got him thinking he's too good for us," A-Rab began, "No wonder he never wants to hangout anymore, god forbid he's seen with a bunch of-" A-Rab was cut off by Riff.

"Hey that's enough!" snapped Riff, though he couldn't help but share A-Rab's feelings. "This is Tony, _our_ Tony. We can at least let him explain."

"Should he have to?" asked Baby John unexpectedly. He was met with confused looks.

"Well…" he continued, "it's just a girl."

Action straightened up and looked at Baby John piercingly. "Are you joking? She's not a girl, she's a damn spoiled rich kid. That whole family's bad news. You want to be one of them too?"

A-Rab stood up in front Action as he advanced on Baby John. "Lay off him!"

"Cool it," Ice warned, and grabbed his lighter out of Action's hand.

The two boys gave each other deadly looks, but sat down with the others nonetheless.

"Should we go talk to him?" asked Mouthpiece.

"No," replied Riff as some of the others nodded their heads. "I'll talk to him, he has the afternoon off today anyway."

Riff knew he should talk to Tony alone, it was his best chance of getting the truth. He prayed Tony would have a justifying answer, though Riff could not think of anything that would excuse getting involved with the sister of Oliver Russo. Action was right, that whole family is bad news.

"Whoa, the hell is that?" Snowboy asked. The others followed his gaze.

Baby John looked down at the bruised part of his hand now showing from his pocket. "It's nothing. Shut it in the car door," he shrugged.

Ice let out a low whistle in response and Baby John shoved his hand further into his pocket.

Riff was sure that was a lie, although he did have to commend his friend on the ease with which he said it. If he hadn't already been suspicious, he wouldn't have questioned it. He met A-Rab's eyes for a moment, and could see in them a warning to keep quiet.

Riff had little time to think on the Baby John situation, the conversation had quickly switched focus back to Tony, and they began sharing endless theories on why Maria Russo would be using him. Within a few hours, Riff left to intercept his friend on his way home.

He waited at the corner a few doors down from Docs. He kept his head down though looked up occasionally for any sign of Tony. It was hot and humid, but he didn't let that interfere with his determination. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long, within 10 minutes Tony was walking towards him. Distracted by his phone, he didn't notice Riff until he was only a few metres ahead.

"Jesus, man. You need to stop doing that."

When Riff didn't reply, Tony sighed and continued. "I know why you're here. Knew he wouldn't keep his mouth shut."

"Well I'm glad he told me. Didn't seem like you were going to." Riff had told himself he would remain calm, but he could feel anger rising inside him.

"I was, I just knew you wouldn't like it."

"Well what the hell are you doing? How did you even meet this girl?" asked Riff.

"Just from around, you know, and then she came out with us last weekend. We just clicked," Tony replied with a lovesick look coming over his face. "You would really like her if you got to know her, she's great."

"I doubt that. Her brother is the same guy who jumped me the other night, remember. Bunch of yuppies."

Tony scowled at Riff. "You've never even met her! Do you just judge everyone by how much money they've got?"

"It's not about money!"

"Then what's it about?"

Riff thought for a moment. "Loyalty."

"Oh," said Tony, rolling his eyes, "so I'm being disloyal?"

"Well you didn't tell me you were dating Oliver Russo's sister, and you lied to me! You told me she was in your grade."

"She IS in my grade. I didn't say it was in the same school. And get real, you're not pissed because I didn't tell you who it was. You're pissed because it's someone with money, and you resent that."

"I told you it's not about the money, Tony. Just people like them-"

"People like them?" Tony interrupted, "Jesus, Riff, always with the 'them' and 'us'. Maria doesn't care that I'm from the south of town."

"And you think she won't go running the moment she finds something better?" Riff knew this would be going too far, but the words came out before he could stop them.

Tony stopped and grabbed Riff's arm, pulling him until they were face to face. "You don't know anything about her, or her family, or anyone from that side of town, except that they have nice cars and go to a 'rich kid' school. You want to hate them, just grow up."

Riff tore his arm from Tony's grasp. "Fuck off," he spat, before taking off swiftly down the street.

Riff knew he had crossed a line, but he was angry. Angry at Tony for lying to him, and for thinking he's too good for the Jets. He was angry at A-Rab and Baby John for keeping things from him. Most of all he was angry at Oliver and that cocky bunch of rich kids, trying to take everything away from him. Sure they had Tony, but they weren't getting his street.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The promise of Benji's party had become a beacon of hope in an otherwise painful week. Tony and Riff had barely spoken since their argument. It wasn't difficult, Tony would leave early in the morning for work, and once home, spend his evenings shut up in his room. Riff in turn refused to go near Doc's, which forced the Jets to seek their usual sodas and junk food at other, overpriced, teen-filled hangouts around town. They did eventually decided it best to just meet up at each other's houses, as there was an unspoken agreement that McDonalds and the like took away slightly from the bad-boy image they had going on.

As usual, everyone at Benji's was having a great time. A-Rab had already talked up some girl, and hadn't been seen for a while. Ice was playing pool, and winning by the looks of it. Even Baby John, who'd been a downer all week, seemed to be enjoying himself. Riff too, sometime around his third drink found himself forgetting the drama of the previous weeks and allowed himself to enjoy the party. He had just joined some kids sitting around the swimming pool.

"Man," said Snowboy, standing up. "Wish I'd thought to bring swimmers or something." He then clumsily removed his shirt and jumped into the water, splashing everyone nearby, causing a number of people to scream and duck for cover.

"You are totally not sober enough to go swimming," called out a girl Riff recognised from the year below him.

"Well then you should come in. You might need to save me," Snowboy replied.

The girl dropped her bag down a safe distance from the water and cannon-balled into the pool, fully dressed.

Soon there was a large crowd of people in the pool, and most the other party goers had migrated outside. Snowboy hadn't slowed down in terms of drinking, and Riff was keeping an eye on him. Snowboy's level of drunkenness was usually a good indicator of when it was time to go home. He often went overboard at parties, and if unsupervised, would end up doing something stupid.

Though you'd never guess it upon first meeting him, Snowboy was the smartest of the Jets. A-Rab often joked that he was only in the Jets because he 'ups the collective IQ'. Teachers would tell him he was wasting his mind, hanging out with 'miscreants', and he probably was, Riff admitted. Tony had once suggested that perhaps Snowboy didn't like being intelligent, that he didn't want people expecting things from him. Riff could understand that.

It was when Snowboy looked as though he were about to pass out on a pool chair at about 5 in the afternoon that they decided it was time to leave.

"Baby John, can you get Ice? Maybe you two should try and get him up," Riff instructed as he struggled into his shoes. Ice could hold his alcohol better than most, and Baby John didn't drink at all, while most the other Jets were having a hard time keeping themselves up straight.

"Yeah sure, but…" Baby John held up his somewhat healed left hand, it was still giving him trouble. Riff knew he should have probably have seen a doctor about it by now, but decided this wasn't the time it bring it up.

"Oh yeah, right. Just go get Ice, me and him will manage."

"That kid is so fuuuuuuucked," Snowboy said once Baby John was back inside.

"Yeah?" Riff asked, as he hung Snowboy's shirt loosely around his neck.

"Yep," Snowboy nodded confidently, "He needs to talk about his feelings."

On the last word he dramatically put his hand to his heart and fluttered his eyelashes.

"Sure does," Riff agreed. Clearly he wasn't the only one concerned about Baby John. "How about you, how are you feeling?"

"Fucking ace man," Snowboy grinned. "I might throw up though."

"Spectacular."

Ice appeared a few minutes later. "Baby John's seeing where all the others are at," he told them, "I said we'd meet him out front."

They managed to get Snowboy up, through the crowds of people and of out the house with relative ease, though Ice did most the work. Baby John joined them with A-Rab shortly after.

"The other guys didn't want to leave yet," he explained.

It was Ice who suggested they take the longer route, which avoided the more busy streets. With Snowboy as obviously intoxicated as his was, and Riff and the others not entirely inconspicuous either, they knew this was a good idea. The fresh air seemed to do Snowboy good, as he soon sobered up enough to walk with minimal assistance, albeit with the occasional stumble.

"You drink too much, you know that right?" Ice joked after Snowboy once again tripped on the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I know. I'm a raging alcoholic. I need Jenny Craig," Snowboy replied, collapsing in defeat on the ground.

"Jenny Craig's the weight loss guy, idiot," said Ice, pulling Snowboy up by his arm. "You need an AA program."

"That's the one."

"I think everyone in this town drinks too much," slurred A-Rab.

"I say they don't drink enough!" exclaimed Snowboy, slamming his fist down on an imaginary surface.

"Hey, Johnny boy here doesn't drink. There's still hope," said Riff, ignoring Snowboy. He punched Baby John sportively in the shoulder.

"And why not?" asked Ice, indicating to Snowboy who had stopped to lean against a pole, and looked as though he may be sick. "Can't you see how much fun you're missing?"

They all laughed, and stopped walking while Snowboy regained composure.

"I don't know. Just don't like it," Baby John shrugged.

"You're smarter than we give you credit for," stated Snowboy, grimacing.

"Hey!" someone called from behind them. They turned to see Action jogging towards them.

"Geez, you guys took your time, I thought you'd be almost at Ice's place by now. Figured you'd take the long way, though."

They had agreed earlier that they were going to stay at Ice's house the night of the party, as his mother wouldn't care if they'd been drinking, and more importantly, wouldn't tell any of the other parents.

"Well _someone_," began Riff, looking over to Snowboy, "has been taking his time."

Snowboy responded with an obscene hand gesture.

"Yeah well, you won't believe who had the nerve to show up at Benji's," said Action. He paused for what Riff could only assume was dramatic effect, and continued, "Oliver."

"What the hell was he doing there?" asked Riff, "Did try to start anything?"

Action shrugged, "Being a cocky shit I suppose. There was a bit of this an' that, yeah. Thought I was gonna pound his skull in till some big guy dragged him away."

"What did I tell you?" Riff replied angrily.

"Hey he came looking for me okay, saying shit about my family. You aint the boss of me alright." Action was obviously still on edge from his confrontation with Oliver, and Riff let his remark go.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked.

Action appeared to calm slightly. "They're all back at Benji's playing poker. Don't worry, Oliver left before I did."

"What if he's just going to go back, with more of his lot?" asked Baby John.

"I figured there was more of a chance of him going to look for you," Action replied, gesturing to Riff. "He seemed pretty hammered."

"Eh, he'd have found us by now," A-Rab shrugged.

"Yeah well, let's get a move on anyway," Riff instructed, nudging Snowboy in the back. "There's only six of us, and Snowboy would be about as useful in a fight right now as a badly trained cocker spaniel." 

…

"Hey, A-Rab. What happened with that girl you were talking to?" asked Riff, repositioning himself in the chair he was sitting in to face the others, most of whom were sitting on Ice's bedroom floor.

"Nah, nothing. We made out for a bit but she totally wasn't into it. She said to look her up on Facebook though," A-Rab replied, as though this where a huge accomplishment.

"What's her name?" asked Mouthpiece.

"No idea, I don't think she told me," said A-Rab.

"Struck out!" mocked Mouthpiece.

A-Rab frowned, "Still did better than you," he said.

Mouthpiece laughed and held up his hands in defeat.

"So how about Oliver tonight, is he testing his luck or what?" asked Action.

"Let's just do it," replied Riff, surprising even himself, "Next time we see them, we'll finish it."

The others looked excited by the idea, and Riff continued.

"We won't just jump them, but if they show up around here again, we'll go for it," he said.

"Nah," replied Action, "we should plan it, you know, meet them at the underpass or something. Give them a chance to chicken out."

The others murmured in agreement.

"Yeah, alright," Riff agreed, "but hey, no word of it to Tony."


End file.
